Tag: traditional media

In less than a decade, the world has gone almost digital and it’s easy to see why. Social media blows up and spreads businesses like wildfire, websites are incredibly cheap and easy to design, and the instant response you get from email compared to phoning or sending snail mail is incomparable. It goes without saying that every successful business will in some way have used the internet to their advantage, but it doesn’t mean that traditional advertising mediums are dead. In fact, the reality is far from that, and traditional advertising is still one of the most popular ways to expose your brand and products.

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People haven’t forgotten about TV

Even though many people use streaming services and on-demand broadcasts, it doesn’t mean they no longer watch television. Think back to when you last saw an advertisement on television. If you can actually remember it, then it’s worked on you and there’s still some merit to traditional marketing.

Many people in the world still watch television and you’d be foolish not to invest in it. Television broadcasts happen all over the world and there’s a reason why it still costs a lot of money to get your advertisements on some of the world’s most popular channels and seasons (like during the NFL Super Bowl). In one week, teens watch around 14 hours of TV with older Millennials watching 22 hours and on the far end we have adults (65 and older) tuning in to approximately 51 hours.

If you’re going to create a business and advertise it, then consider learning about direct response marketing and making the most of the traditional mediums such as television. Just remember that even if you personally don’t watch much television, many people in your country do and your product can reach a lot of people that don’t have internet connections or don’t use the internet very much.

Not everyone has learned about the digital age and not everyone uses their laptops or smartphones all the time.

People haven’t forgotten about print

People still look at newspapers. They still read the latest happenings in the world in newspapers instead of using their smartphones all the time. It’s because it’s more convenient, it’s more traditional, and it’s not like newspaper stands are going anywhere anytime soon.

While there might not be someone calling out the latest article headlines and handing out newspapers, there are still plenty in print and they’re circulating just as quickly. Advertisements in print might not be something you personally see much (especially if you’ve focused on using digital mediums), but you have to consider that many people still read magazines, newspapers and even leaflets that come with their orders.

Printed advertisements can also easily be slipped into orders and other products, and it’s easier to hand out something physical at an event as opposed to telling someone a website and expecting them to remember it.

Summary

In short, traditional advertising mediums are here to stay and there’s no denying that they can contribute to business expansion. While they might be a lot more expensive, they’re excellent at targeting specific audiences and should not be neglected in your next promotional campaign. Make use of traditional mediums, and you’ll see your business grow larger and stronger.

In 2016, nearly half of all small businesses were without a website. Of the 54% that did, 23% were not mobile friendly. These statistics are quite astounding since the internet is seemingly so ubiquitous in modern society. In fact, 88% of Americans now use the internet and over three quarters (77%) own a smartphone.

From a purely business perspective, not having a website is a bad idea because the global e-commerce market is now worth an estimated $22 trillion. M-commerce (transactions conducted using mobile devices) is worth $3.2 trillion alone. The role that various types of media play in the modern business landscape cannot be understated.

If you are a small business owner, you need to be able to harness both digital and print media to effectively communicate with your existing and prospective customers. The only problem is that every other business out there if they understand the world that they are in, will be trying to be the same. Setting yourself apart is therefore crucial. Here are a few ways of doing it:

Social media is a brilliant innovation, especially from an advertising perspective. Facebook has an estimated 1.94 billion users, while Twitter has over 325 million unique monthly users. Reaching these people is free in so far as you can set up an account today and start tweeting.

The sites themselves create an infrastructure that allows for content to reach immense amounts of people within hours. Viral videos, in particular, demonstrate this point. However, you do not need to spend a lot of money on the production. If you hire local video camera crews you can cut down on costs.

As a point of reference, the Duplass brothers started their Hollywood careers with a film that reputedly cost $3 to make. They used their apartment and only paid for a tape for their camera. It was accepted to the Sundance Film Festival. Creativity and a flair for communicating with people are all you need to be incredibly successful.

Advertising on the internet is exceptionally convenient. Since it connects people all over the world, it transcends a lot of the barriers which have been conventionally used to group potential demographics, like location and class.

However, the internet is a democratising force, and it has allowed people to organise themselves into groups of their choosing. For instance, if you run a tech business that has an emphasis on gaming, before the internet you may have run adverts in public places. While lots of people would see them, only a small proportion of those people would be interested in gaming at all.

That is obviously quite inefficient. The internet has allowed for much more targeted advertising campaigns, not least because gamers will congregate on certain sites like Twitch, or gaming blogs, and you can utilise this fact to advertise to those people.

The ethics of metadata are sometimes problematic, but it is certainly an effective tool.

While it will always be the case that not everyone who sees your ad will respond to it by buying one of your products or using your services, the chances are much better when you are intelligently targeting a demographic.